Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on March 23 announced the commencement of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2011 Taiwan, a European Union (EU)-sponsored contest held in Taiwan beginning 2008. For 2011 the focus is on telematics applications based on the Galileo navigation satellite system.

Galileo is an EU-developed satellite system for global navigation, similar to the US-developed GPS and Soviet Union (now Russia)-developed GLONASS. With Galileo to be put in commission in 2013, ESNC aims to encourage innovative applications of the satellite system. 23 countries held ESNC events in 2010, according to MOEA.

ESNC 2011 Taiwan will focus on telematics applications through integrating WAVE/DSRC (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments/Dedicated Short Range Communications), telematics technology developed by the Taiwan government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), with Galileo positioning functions, MOEA pointed out.

Since Taiwan has strong capabilities in information and communication technology and Europe has many international automakers, the contest aims to promote complementary cooperation between Taiwan-based enterprises concerned and European car brands, ITRI indicated.

Participants in ESNC 2011 Taiwan should propose their applications by the end of June, and the largest prize is EUR10,000 (US$14,120).